Description
Delicious sugar cookies decorated with vibrant icing and fun toppings.
Ingredients
Scale
- 90 g soft unsalted butter
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 210 g plain (all-purpose) flour (plus more for rolling)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 225 g confectioners’ sugar
- 4 tablespoons milk
- food colouring paste
- mini smarties
- edible glitter
Instructions
- Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer for 3-4 minutes until fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat for another minute to combine.
- Add half the flour and all of the baking powder and mix for 30 seconds until combined.
- Add in the rest of the flour and mix again until the dough just comes together.
- Place a large piece of baking parchment on the work surface and lightly flour it.
- Place the dough on top, sprinkle with a little more flour and roll out the dough to about 0 thickness.
- Slide the baking parchment onto a baking sheet and cover in clingfilm, then place in the fridge for an hour (and up to 24 hours).
- Preheat oven to 175C/350F (fan). Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Cut the dough into shapes using a cookie cutter. Re-roll any leftover dough and cut again.
- Continue to do this until all the dough is used (you should get at least 14 medium sized cookies).
- Place in the oven and cook for approx. 7-10 minutes until very lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely (they can cool on the tray or on a wire rack).
- Once the cookies are cool, make the icing. You’ll need a thick ‘border’ icing and a thinner ‘filler’ icing.
- Start by mixing the icing sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of milk in a large bowl with a fork or whisk.
- You want a thick constancy – so that when you lift the whisk you get a trail of icing that takes 5 or 6 seconds to sink back in. This is your border icing.
- Now pour out half of the icing mixture into another bowl and add a tiny bit more milk (so that a trail sinks back in after 1-2 seconds). This is your filler icing.
- Add food colouring paste in your desired colour and spoon into disposable piping bags.
- Snip the very tips off the bags, then use the border icing to create patterns and borders.
- Use the filler icing to ‘colour in’ the cookies.
- The border icing should stop the icing running off the cookies.
- Use the filler icing quite sparingly and use a cocktail stick to gently push the filler icing up to the borders.
- If you want to draw a pattern on top of a layer of icing, then allow the bottom layer of icing to dry before piping any more on top.
- The Christmas tree cookies were made by using the green border icing to create the edges, then green filler icing to colour in the tree.
- I left this layer to dry, then used white border icing to create lines that look like tinsel.
- I then glued smarties to the branches using a little more border icing.
- The star cookie pattern was created using white border icing. Sprinkle on a little edible glitter before the icing sets.
Notes
- To achieve the best texture, ensure all ingredients are at room temperature.
- The dough can be chilled for up to 24 hours for easier handling.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 20 mg